After a fitful night of bad naps punctuated with bad movies, I'm now watching
China's "New Territories" slide under us in the dark; I can see tiny amber streetlights
marking out roads, laid out like tangled pearl necklaces on black velvet... now I see the first hints of sunrise, and... a bazillion tall buildings.
Observation #1: In Hong Kong (and I know this sounds racist, but) all the buildings look alike. There are countless high-rise apartment blocks,
all identical to my western eye, all stacked to the same height, the
same distance apart, with the same percentage of people home with their
lights on. There are literally hundreds of these towers that I can see, and I can discern no difference between any of them. I'm immediately impressed
by the sheer verticality of this city; how many people can fit into
it due to these ubiquitous high-rises. Some even seem to be linked at
levels other than ground-level! They remind me of
Paolo Soleri's "arcologies;"
theoretical utopian cities of the future that would house millions of people
without overcrowding, through effective utilization of an overall
three-dimensional design.
Plane lands
Taxi to Hotel/Apartment
When I got to the apartment, the Filipino night manager
"Jess" showed me around, explained how to use the hot water (a bit more
complicated than at home), etc... Then he informed me that there's
usually another person helping at night, but he's in the hospital, and
it looks serious... There was an ominous silence, then I timidly asked, "Could
it be... one of those flus?" He responded, "Very likely," and didn't
seem to want to talk much about it anymore.
Great.
Nice place, though...
It has a good view of "Times Square", the shopping area across the street.
I'm exhausted, and will collapse into bed now... but I'm looking forward to going exploring tomorrow.
Nice place, though...
